IN the past year some $5 billion in contracts were not awarded by public bodies by fully competitive tender/procurement methods.
This was revealed in the first Annual Report to Parliament (2023-2024) of the Office of Procurement Regulation (OPR) laid in the House of Representatives on September 9.
This revelation came against a backdrop of many public bodies not yet being compliant with the amended Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act 2015, as also stated in the report. The act came into force on April 26, 2023, along with the repeal of the Central Tenders Board Act.
While the act (section 37) said each public body must submit quarterly reports listing all contracts it had awarded for procurement, the report's executive summary said this reporting rate was "unsatisfactory" and "mediocre." It listed the overall contract reporting rate as 38 per cent (Q3 2023), 44 per cent (Q4 2023), 51 per cent (Q1 2024) and 49 per cent (Q2 2024).
Alongside this, the high absence of procurement committees in public bodies could lead to challenges from affected parties during a procurement exercise, the report warned.
The summary then listed about $5 billion in awards being made by methods other than fully competitive ones.
In Q3 2023 this was 51 per cent of awards made and totalled $0.58 billion. In Q4 2023 it was 78 per cent of awards and was worth $1.48 billion. For Q1 2024, it was 70 per cent, to a value of $0.9 billion. By Q2 2024, it was a whopping 87 per cent, valued at $1.9 billion.
"The tenet of competition reinforces the founding principles of fairness, equity, and value for money enshrined in the act."
However despite the new procurement regime advocating open bidding, the OPR observed "an excessive use of limited and non-competitive procurement methods," worsening over time.
"Single and sole-source methods were frequently used, indicating a level of resistance to the use of open bidding methods by public bodies."
However, the report also noted inadequate infrastructure and resources to support the required changes.
These inadequacies included technological, human and financial resources.
The report also noted a declining number of private contractors and suppliers completing registration in order to advance to pre-qualification at the OPR.
In Q4 2024, some 10,794 suppliers/contractors were registered, but only 1,494 had advanced to become pre-qualified to bid on contracts.
In Q1 2024, public bodies awarded $2.5 billion in contracts and in Q2 2024 the figure was $3.3 billion. The report gave a figure of $2.8 billion for Q3 2023 and Q4 2023, but then said that data was unreliable.
The report said companies had to register in the OPR's depository to encourage accountability, transparency, competition and market outreach.
"Significantly, by the end of Q2 2024, a total of 15,149 suppliers and contractors from the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Central and South America, Australia and the Middle East commenced registration in the depository, with 2,569 being pre-qualified for 23,996
